Fowl eviscerating tool



April 3, 1951 011 ET A 2,547,608

FOWE. EVISCERATING TOOL Filed March 7, 1947 Fig.1 [2555:

, INVENTORS ANDREW J. To 77 94N715 D. Tor,

ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 3, 1951 Darren srArss QFFECE 5 Claims.

This invention relates to devices or hand tools for manually removingthe internal organs from fcwls in cleaning them for market or forcooking. The principal object of the invention is to provideimprovements in such an eviscerating.

tool which will reatly facilitate the Work and render it unnecessary touse several different tools to completely clean the fowl.

Particular features and advantages of the invention will appear in thefollowing description and in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one form of the improved evisceratingtool showing its general appearance and its shallow scoop-like outer endwith serrated cutting edges.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail of the sliding blade locking device used inthe tool of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a side view of a modified form of the tool with the outer endof the scoop hinged to the body, and with portions broken away to revealthe internal construction.

Fig. i is a side view similar to that of Fig. 3, but showing a furthermodification in its construction.

Fig. 5 is a back plan view of the tool of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail of Fig. 4 showing the sliding thumb lockfor projecting the cutting blade out for use.

Fig. 7 is a back plan view of a still further modification of the tool,in which there are two hinged'outer scoop ends.

Fig. 8 is a side view of a chicken positioned on a table and beingeviscerated with the aid of the tool shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 9 shows a modified mounting of the cutby welding, or formedintegrally therewith extends a large shallow spoon-like scoop 4,preferably extending at a gradually increasing angle from the handle,with the concave side of the scoop facing inward or toward the handle,and the edge of the scoop is preferably serrated with relatively largeteeth 5 and which are preferably beveled to a sharp edge in the generalplane of 2 the scoop wall so as to out the viscera and attachingmembranes loose from the body cavity of the fowl as the scoop is workedaround the inside of the fowl, like a serrated edged knife blade.

Extending along the curved back of the scoop is a flexible steel. blade8 which is slidably supported by spaced metal straps or guides l whichridge the blade and which straps are secured to or struck up from themetal'of the scoop body, and handle, and the inner end of the blade orshank is provided with a thumb or finger operating piece 8 at its innerend, all so that the blade may be slid along the scoop to cause it toproject at its forward or cutting end 5 as indicated in the drawing,Fig. 1, or withdrawn within the outer end of the scoop, and locked ineither position.

The outer end only of the blade is sharpened on both edges and pointed,to serve both in making the initial body out 9 along the belly of thefowl (see Fig. 8) and also to be projected more or less as may berequired during the loosening of the entrails and attaching membranesfrom the body of the fowl.

One form of construction of the thumb piece and adjacent parts is shownin Fig. 2 wherein the flexible blade 6 is provided with a somewhatthicker shank It] to which the thumb piece 8 is secured, and which shankis normally urged outward against one of the guiding straps 'l' as by aflat spring H to lock in either in or out position of sliding as byspaced latching lugs l2, l3, engaging the strap, a final or limit stopmay also be provided on the handle as at M.

With such a tool held in one hand, and the fowl steadied with the other,as shown in Fig. 8,

the operator need never stop to pick up a knife or other tool as hecleans one fowl after the other, as he can make the original belly cutwith the tip of the projected blade, and instantly withdraw it forsubsequent use to sever or loosen any or the internal organs when hefinds the serrated sharp edges of the scoop are not sufiicient, thenwithdraw the freed entrails embraced by the web portion l of the scoop,as indicated in Fig. 8, the fowl '32 being supported on a table 13.

it is desirable to have the scoop curve down quite abruptly inwithdrawing the entrails, yet not desirable when first loosening thesame from around the body cavity, the variations of Figs. 3, '4, and 7,are important, especially to facilitate use on various sizes of fowls,for in these variations the scoop may extend almost straight out orsubstantially so, like a very large cooking spoon, to start operations,and the tip of the scoop is pivotally connected to the body portion ofthe scoop so that the tip may be swung downward like a rake or hoe,without removing the tool from the fowl, when it is desired to withdrawthe loosened viscera.

This is accomplished by the construction in Fig. 3, where the handle ofthe tool is designated IS, the shank of the scoop ll, body i8, and theouter end or tip of the scoop is designated !9, and shown as a separatepiece or flap formed with side lugs pivotally connected as at 2|respectively with opposite sides of the body portion I8, to swingdownwardly from the full line position to the dotted line positionindicated in the drawing.

To swing the tip of the scoop down or back again, a link rod 22 ispivctally connected at one end with a pin 23 extending across the innerlower corners of the flap, and pivotally connected at its other end asat 25 with a finger or ,ftrigger lever 25, in turn pivoted at 26 to theend of the handle it, sothat by pulling on the trigger lever with thefinger of the hand holding the tool, the tip or flap may be swung downto the hoe-like position, or it may be swung upwards to the full lineposition by pushing on the lever, or held in elevated position byblocking it by an advanced position of the hand. Or it may be locked ineither position as by any similar means "shown in the figures to lockthe knife blade in either position.

In this Fig. 3 the same type of flexible knife blade is shown and giventhe same numeral 6 as in Fig. l, but its tip 6' is normally positionedjust back of the parting joint of the flap is so that when the blade isprojected for use in cutting, the scoop flap must be swung down, atleast somewhat.

In Fig. 3 the flexible blade 5 is shown as continuing into the hollowhandle 16 and provided with a thumb operating knob 2'1 having a shank 28projecting through a slot 29 in the handle, and a small retaining lug30, 3|, is provided at each end of the slot to respectively engage holes32, 33, formed in the blade to lock the blade at both ends of traveluntil released by pressing the knob 27 to push the blade out ofengagement with the lug, the spring blade being normally biased tospring outward to engage the lugs.

In the construction of Figs. 4 and 5 the scoop is shown substantiallystraight like a shallow spoon, and is similar to the form shown in Fig.3, but the operating connection to the hinged outer end or flap issomewhat different, In

these views the hollow handle is designated 36,

the shank of the scoop 31, the body 38, flap 39, hinged at 48 toopposite sides of the body portion, and provided with a central lug orlugs 4| to which an operating rod 42 is pivoted at one end at E3, andthe other end of the operating rod extends slidably into the hollowhandle where it is provided with an operating knob 44 having a neck 45guided in a slot 46 in the handle, and which neck locks in either ofspaced notches 41, 48, the rod 42 being biased to normally urge the neckof the knob into the notches at opposite ends of the travel desired, forswinging the flap end of the scoop up or down.

In the showing of Fig. 4 the knife blade may be the same as shown forFigs. 1 and 3, but is here shown at 5|] to slide Within the handle to beprojected as shown in dotted lines at 5| to extend the cutting tip outof the inner end of the .hande, upon operating the slide button 52.

This button may have a neck 53 with an enlarged 4 part 54 to lock ineither of two or more enlarged portions 55, 55 of a slot 56 in thehandle for guiding the button, as shown larger in Fig. 6. A fiat bowedspring 5i may be provided to urge the blade and its operating knobtoward the slot as indicated.

In Fig. '7, the variation from the form shown in Figs. 4 and 5 is thesplitting of the hinged flap or tip of the scoop to form two piecesseparately hinged to swing outwardly as they swing downwardly, so as toget a wider entrail embracing area for withdrawing the same after it hasbeen loosened.

In this figure the handle is designated 6%, the shank of the scoop 5|,body 82, separate flaps E3, 63'. The flaps are hinged to the body alongangular lines as at 64, 64 so as to spread apart somewhat when swungdownwardly to hoe-like position as shown dotted.

In Fig. '7 the operating rod at is split or connected as at 5'! to twoshort rods 58, 69, which are respectively pivoted as at 65, 65 wih theinside walls of the flap members, in the manner indicated in Figs. 4 and5. Rod 65 is provided with an operating knob 52 movable along a slot 55'as explained for Fig. 6, also a guide strap 1'.

In several of the views the scoop or paddle portion of the tool isindicated as being perforated by several holes H1. Such holes have beenfound to increase the traction of the tool upon the slippery viscera andaid in the removal of the same.

The modification shown in Fig. 9 shows the knife b ade 6, instead ofbeing slidably mounted along the back of the scoop as in Fig. 1, may bepositioned at the inner side of the scoop 4 and arranged to have itspoint 6 projected through a hole in the scoop at H when reouired for usein the deviscerating operation. The blade may be slidably operated as bya knob 21 as explained for Fig. 3 or as described for the other figures.

From the explanation previously given the operation of the variousmodifications of the tool in efiecting the quick removal of the visceraof chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, and other table fowl will be clearlyunderstood. Of course there may be two or three sizes of these tools, ifdesired, for working on very large, medium, and sma l size fowl, thougha single tool may be used efiectively over a considerable range of sizesof birds.

In considering the tool as shown in the drawings and described above,and termed herein to be of shallow spoon-like form, or to have ascoop-like portion, for want of a precise descriptive word, it should benoted that the operative outer end portion may be substantially fiatlike a paddle, and as substantially indicated by the showing of Figs. 4and 7, and hence the term scoop as used herein and in the claims, is tobe taken as including all reasonable modifications of form.

Also to be noted is, that while no slidable knife blade is shown in themodification of Fig. 7, this was omitted only for sake of clarity of thedrawing, as it is obvious that it may have a slidable bladesubstantially the same as any of the blades shown in Figs 3, 4, or 9,and in its most complete form is intended to be fitted with such ablade.

Having thus described our improvements in an eviscerating tool, and thevarious modifications of the same, what we claim is:

1. A fowl eviscerating tool comprising an elongated handle, a shallowspoon-like scoop having ing toward the concave side of the scoop out ofscoop at an angle with one another for swinging line with the generalextension of the handle, 5 to hoe-like position while spreading apartlaterally.

with cutting teet v ANDREW J. TOTI. 2. A structure as set out in claim1, the handle DANTE D TOTI,

being hollow and open at both ends. ting blade slidably mounted onsaid'scoop in a 10 REFERENCES CITED manner to project the end of theblade beyond the The following references are of record in the end ofthe scoop and be retracted from such profile of this patent:

jected position, and finger operated means for so UNITED STATES PATENTSoperating said blade.

4. A structure as set out in claim 1, the outer Number Name 7 Date endportion of said scoop being hinged to the Blackwell 1892 adjacentportion to swing to a. hoe-like position, 615432 court 1898 and fingeroperated means on said handle for 1062241 Kelly May 1913 swinging andlooking said outer end portion in 1076048 Mfzrntosh 1913 position. I 201,369,207 Wilson Feb. 22, 1921 5. A structure as set out in claim 1wherein D'140193 Lynn 1945

